Iman and kufr word count in the Qur'an
This article lists all occurrences of the words iman (إِيمَٰن) and kufr (كُفْر) in the Qur'an. The purpose is to analyze the claim (miracle) that they both appear 25 times in the genitive form.
Arabic grammar
In order to count genitive forms we have to know how to determine whether a word is in the genitive.
Trilateral root
Most Arabic words have a trilateral root.
- iman has the root امن (i-m-n)
- kufr has the root كفر (k-f-r)
From these roots we can derive many words by adding (or sometimes dropping) letters like:
- kuffar - "disbelievers"
- mumineen - "believers"
- amanna - "we believe"
- nakfuru - "we disbelieve"
Genitive
Whether the word is in the nominative, accusative or genitive form depends on diacritics on the third letter of the root. So r (ر) in kufr and n (ن) in iman.
To put it very simply:
- و above the letter (looks like this: نُ, رُ or رٌ) mean it is nominative and the vowel after the letter is "u"
- ٱلْإِيمَٰنُ - al-imanu - the faith
- إِيمَٰنُهُمْ - imanuhum - their faith
- line(s) above the letter (نَ, رَ, رً) mean it is accusative and the vowel after the letter is "a".
- ٱلْكُفْرَ - al-kufra - the disbelief
- line(s) under the letter (رِ, نٍ, نِ) mean it is genitive and the vowel after the letter is "i" ("ee")
- ٱلْكُفْرِ - al-kufri - the disbelief
- بِكُفْرِهِمْ -- bi-kufrihim - for their disbelief
Suffixes of possession
Words like "her", "my", "their" in Arabic are suffixed to the word. For example the suffix -him (هم) means "their". So kufrihim (كُفْرِهِمْ) is "their disbelief". The word بِإِيمَٰنِهِنَّ (bi-imaanihinna, "of their faith")is genitive, because the root letter is in the middle and the -hinna is just a suffix meaning (feminine) "their". This word ended on -na, but it had -ni- in the middle (the root letter) and it is genitive, so don't just look at the last letter of the word to determine whether it is genitive.
Iman
Count | Verse | Word in Arabic | Translation | Form |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2:93 | إِيمَٰنُكُمْ | your faith 1 | nominative 1 |
2 | 2:108 | بِٱلْإِيمَٰنِ | with faith | genitive 1 |
3 | 2:109 | إِيمَٰنِكُمْ | your faith 2 | genitive 2 |
4 | 2:143 | إِيمَٰنَكُمْ | your faith 3 | accusative 1 |
5 | 3:86 | إِيمَٰنِهِمْ | their faith 4 | genitive 3 |
6 | 3:90 | إِيمَٰنِهِمْ | their faith 5 | genitive 4 |
7 | 3:100 | إِيمَٰنِكُمْ | your faith 6 | genitive 5 |
8 | 3:106 | إِيمَٰنِكُمْ | your faith 7 | genitive 6 |
9 | 3:167 | لِلْإِيمَٰنِ | to the faith | genitive 7 |
10 | 3:173 | إِيمَٰنًا | faith | accusative 2 |
11 | 3:177 | بِٱلْإِيمَٰنِ | with the faith | genitive 8 |
12 | 3:193 | لِلْإِيمَٰنِ | to the faith | genitive 9 |
13 | 4:25 | بِإِيمَٰنِكُم | of your faith 8 | genitive 10 |
14 | 5:5 | بِٱلْإِيمَٰنِ | in faith | genitive 11 |
15 | 6:82 | إِيمَٰنَهُم | their faith 9 | accusative 3 |
16 | 6:158 | إِيمَٰنُهَا | her faith 10 | nominative 2 |
17 | 6:158 | إِيمَٰنِهَا | her faith 11 | genitive 12 |
18 | 8:2 | إِيمَٰنًا | faith | accusative 4 |
19 | 9:23 | ٱلْإِيمَٰنِ | faith | genitive 13 |
20 | 9:66 | إِيمَٰنِكُمْ | your faith 12 | genitive 14 |
21 | 9:124 | إِيمَٰنًا | faith | accusative 5 |
22 | 9:124 | إِيمَٰنًا | faith | accusative 6 |
23 | 10:9 | بِإِيمَٰنِهِمْ | by their faith 13 | genitive 15 |
24 | 10:98 | إِيمَٰنُهَآ | her faith 14 | nominative 3 |
25 | 16:106 | إِيمَٰنِهِ | his faith 15 | genitive 16 |
26 | 16:106 | بِٱلْإِيمَٰنِ | with the faith | genitive 17 |
27 | 30:56 | وَٱلْإِيمَٰنَ | and the faith | accusative 7 |
28 | 32:29 | إِيمَٰنُهُمْ | their faith 16 | nominative 4 |
29 | 33:22 | إِيمَٰنًا | faith | accusative 8 |
30 | 40:10 | ٱلْإِيمَٰنِ | the faith | genitive 18 |
31 | 40:28 | إِيمَٰنَهُۥٓ | his faith 17 | accusative 9 |
32 | 40:85 | إِيمَٰنُهُمْ | their faith 18 | nominative 5 |
33 | 42:52 | ٱلْإِيمَٰنُ | the faith | nominative 6 |
34 | 48:4 | إِيمَٰنًا | faith | accusative 10 |
35 | 48:4 | إِيمَٰنِهِمْ | their faith 19 | genitive 19 |
36 | 49:7 | ٱلْإِيمَٰنَ | the faith | accusative 11 |
37 | 49:11 | ٱلْإِيمَٰنِ | the faith | genitive 20 |
38 | 49:14 | ٱلْإِيمَٰنُ | the faith | nominative 7 |
39 | 49:17 | لِلْإِيمَٰنِ | to the faith | genitive 21 |
40 | 52:21 | بِإِيمَٰنٍ | in faith | genitive 22 |
41 | 58:22 | ٱلْإِيمَٰنَ | the faith | accusative 12 |
42 | 59:9 | وَٱلْإِيمَٰنَ | and the faith | accusative 13 |
43 | 59:10 | بِٱلْإِيمَٰنِ | in the faith | genitive 23 |
44 | 60:10 | بِإِيمَٰنِهِنَّ | of their faith 20 | genitive 24 |
45 | 74:31 | إِيمَٰنًا | faith | accusative 14 |
33:72?
Kufr
Count | Verse | Word in Arabic | Translation | Form |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2:88 | بِكُفْرِهِمْ | for their disbelief 1 | genitive 1 |
2 | 2:93 | بِكُفْرِهِمْ | for their disbelief 2 | genitive 2 |
3 | 2:108 | ٱلْكُفْرَ | the disbelief | accusative 1 |
4 | 2:217 | وَكُفْرٌ | and disbelief | nominative 1 |
5 | 3:52 | ٱلْكُفْرَ | the disbelief | accusative 2 |
6 | 3:80 | بِٱلْكُفْرِ | to disbelief | genitive 3 |
7 | 3:90 | كُفْرًا | disbelief | accusative 3 |
8 | 3:167 | لِلْكُفْرِ | to disbelief | genitive 4 |
9 | 3:176 | ٱلْكُفْرِ | the disbelief | genitive 5 |
10 | 3:177 | ٱلْكُفْرَ | the disbelief | accusative 4 |
11 | 4:46 | بِكُفْرِهِمْ | for their disbelief 3 | genitive 6 |
12 | 4:137 | كُفْرًا | disbelief | accusative 5 |
13 | 4:155 | وَكُفْرِهِم | and their disbelief 4 | genitive 7 |
14 | 4:155 | بِكُفْرِهِمْ | for their disbelief 5 | genitive 8 |
15 | 4:156 | وَبِكُفْرِهِمْ | and for their disbelief 6 | genitive 9 |
16 | 5:41 | ٱلْكُفْرِ | the disbelief | genitive 10 |
17 | 5:61 | بِٱلْكُفْرِ | with disbelief | genitive 11 |
18 | 5:64 | وَكُفْرًا | and disbelief | accusative 6 |
19 | 5:68 | وَكُفْرًا | and disbelief | accusative 7 |
20 | 9:12 | ٱلْكُفْرِ | the disbelief | genitive 12 |
21 | 9:17 | بِٱلْكُفْرِ | with disbelief | genitive 13 |
22 | 9:23 | ٱلْكُفْرَ | the disbelief | accusative 8 |
23 | 9:37 | ٱلْكُفْرِ | the disbelief | genitive 14 |
24 | 9:74 | ٱلْكُفْرِ | the disbelief | genitive 15 |
25 | 9:97 | كُفْرًا | disbelief | accusative 9 |
26 | 9:107 | وَكُفْرًا | and disbelief | accusative 10 |
27 | 14:28 | كُفْرًا | disbelief | accusative 11 |
28 | 16:106 | بِٱلْكُفْرِ | to disbelief | genitive 16 |
29 | 18:80 | وَكُفْرًا | and disbelief | accusative 12 |
30 | 30:44 | كُفْرُهُۥ | his disbelief 7 | nominative 2 |
31 | 31:23 | كُفْرُهُۥٓ | his disbelief 8 | nominative 3 |
32 | 35:39 | كُفْرُهُۥ | his disbelief 9 | nominative 4 |
33 | 35:39 | كُفْرُهُمْ | their disbelief 10 | nominative 5 |
34 | 39:7 | ٱلْكُفْرَ | the disbelief * | accusative 13 |
35 | 39:8 | بِكُفْرِكَ | in your disbelief 11 | genitive 17 |
36 | 49:7 | ٱلْكُفْرَ | the disbelief | accusative 14 |
17:89, 17:99
- ungreatful
Conclusions
- The word iman appears 45 times in all its forms and the word kufr appears 36 times in all its forms